


No Good Deed

by Plus1STR



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Cartinelli - Freeform, F/F, Femslash, One Shot, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-22 03:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3713056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plus1STR/pseuds/Plus1STR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I am a witch’s apprentice and have trouble keeping my magic a secret and you are my neighbor and one of my spells went wrong and now my radio keeps blasting love songs whenever you walk by my apartment and i think this is sending embarrassing signals AU" requested by <a href="http://exerciseindisguise.tumblr.com/">exerciseindisguise</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Good Deed

“Oh flipping hell!” Peggy swatted away at the small flame that caught onto her sleeve.

It wasn’t the first time one of her spells misfired and it likely wouldn’t be the last. Why Fry handpicked her— someone known for their combative streak— out of a group of far more qualified charms apprentices was beyond her understanding. Peggy didn’t have the gentle touch or the relaxed flick of the wrist for charms and enchantments. Ease and subtly were not Peggy’s forte. Even as a child, she had a proclivity for destructive magicks; her mother had to fireproof the house after a tiny Peggy set the drapes ablaze one too many times.

It was already difficult enough to keep her skillset under wraps without something blowing up or rebounding every time she tried to cast something from her lesson plan. This time around, the goal was a simple enough or so she thought. All she had to do was enchant a few objects to autonomously complete tasks around her apartment. Fry had assured her it was one of the easiest tasks in the book. As careful as she was, this time someone in her building had to have heard her; disregarding what sounded like a distant explosion being set off and an ironing board flying into the wall would take a level of ignorance that Peggy wouldn’t insult her neighbours with. Sure enough, someone had heard what happened, the frantic shuffling from next door made Peggy certain of it.

When her neighbor’s door shut with a soft click and footsteps fell flat at her door accompanied by knocks, Peggy’s radio sprang to life, blasting at a volume so loud that Peggy could see the table it sat on shake.

_Ho, ho, ho_

_It's magic, you know_

_Never believe it's not so_

Peggy groaned internally; the music choice certainly wasn’t helping her cause. As the knocking grew more impatient, Peggy scrambled to shut off the radio before opening the door a sliver.

“Everything alright in there, Peg?”

“Quite, Angie. Just a small mishap with my ironing board.”

“You sure? ‘Cause it looks like you burned a hole through your sleeve.”

“It may or may not have caught fire. Everything’s perfectly fine now.”

 “If you say so, English. Try not to burn down the building, alright?”

“Of course. Good night, Angie.”

“Night!” Angie tossed over her shoulder, retreating into her home.

Peggy shut her door, sliding down against it as she looked at the aftermath of her failed spell. The ironing board was snapped in half on the floor and managed to leave a hefty dent in the wall while the iron itself was imbedded into the sheetrock completely detached from its power cord. What remained of the cord was permanently infused with the outlet that sparked with blue and green flecks of the residual magic. From what she could tell, the spell traveled along the cord and into the wall and the aftershock set off the radio— though Peggy was certain her radio didn’t have a slightly ominous glow to it before her spell went haywire. She resigned to call Fry about it in the morning; the last thing Peggy wanted to do was cause more havoc trying to correct her previous disaster.

By eight in the morning, Peggy’s radio started up and the blasting music jolted her awake.

_Love me, love me_

_Say that you love me_

_Fool me, fool me_

_Go on and fool me_

Before Peggy could escape the warmth of her blankets, the radio shut itself off. Between the music that had previously rattled her nightstand and the sudden knocking at her door, Peggy had no choice but to crawl out of the comfort of her bed first attending to the radio and then to the visitor.

“I know, I’m sorry about the noise,” she started after the music kicked up again this time with a different song, not nearly as loud as the wakeup call.

_Whenever, wherever_

_We're meant to be together_

_I'll be there and you'll be near_

_And that's the deal my dear_

“You’ve sure got an interesting taste in music, Peg.”

“I’m afraid my radio has a mind of its own.” Peggy turned back briefly, tossing the ridiculous machine a glare and sure enough the volume dropped down another notch.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Angie eyed her suspiciously. Angie had always thought Peggy to be a bit strange what with her odd hours and shuffling about at night, but this new bit with her radio had been a new milestone to write down later.

“Perfectly.”

Angie shifted on her feet, catching a glimpse over Peggy’s shoulder to the iron that was still imbedded in the wall. “Right…”

Peggy leaned against the doorframe in a feeble attempt to block Angie’s view. “Off to work?”

“Ah, geeze. I’m gonna be late again.” Angie backed away from the door, stopping for a moment before smiling. “Grab you a slice of pie?”

“That’d be lovely, Angie.”

_Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch_

_You know that I love you_

_I can't help myself_

_I love you and nobody else_

“I swear to Merlin I will break you,” Peggy muttered under her breath and the radio shut itself off again.

“What was that?”

“Oh, just have a wonderful day, Angie.”

“Sure thing, English. You too.”

Minutes after Angie departed, Miss Fry appeared with a log of Peggy’s progress— or lack thereof— in hand and an expression that could only mean Peggy was going to be scolded for one thing or another.

“Miss Carter, need I remind you my strict rules on the matter of defacing the walls of this institution?” Fry started her lecture before Peggy even had the door halfway open.

“No, Miss Fry.”

With a few easy flicks of her wrist, the iron shimmied out of the wall and the whole sealed up, leaving no trace of evidence behind.

“One simple animation spell, Miss Carter. That was all I asked of you.” The dent left behind from the ironing board was next to go.

“With all due respect, I have mentioned time and time again that I am better suited for destructive magicks.”

The first time Peggy made that point was during her beginning years as an apprentice. As such, she was required to go through a series of tests to determine which master would be appropriate to take her on as a pupil. Her first task was given to her by Doctor Erskine and the goal had been to rid the subject of a knife wound. On the bright side, she did get rid of the injury entirely. On a much darker note, she also got rid of the subject; by some stroke of misfortune, the body disintegrated. Thankfully the academy only ever used reanimated corpses as test dummies and not actual, living beings. Needless to say Peggy was banned from using restoration spells after one too many similar incidents.

“A young lady should not involve herself in such unseemly practices,” Fry replied sternly, immediately forcing a frustrated sigh out of Peggy. It was always the same answer with Fry.

Peggy watched on in silence as Miss Fry sorted out the issue of the dent left behind in the wall and inspected the rest of the apartment. Peggy was right in her first assumption; the spell did rebound and travel along the electrical outlet and into the next active object— the radio.

“Your next assignment will be to undo your failed enchantment.”

“Are you certain that’s entirely safe?”

“A half-decent witch should at least be able to undo their own mayhem.”

Peggy sat down in her arm chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Take care to remember, Miss Carter, a gentle touch can do wonders.” And with that, Fry left, likely to chew out another resident for breaking one of her house rules.

Two weeks later, Peggy still hadn’t managed to sort of her trouble with her radio and she was certain Angie was growing more and more suspicious with every pass of Peggy’s apartment. For one reason or another, the radio blasted sickeningly cheesy— and occasionally inappropriate— love songs whenever the younger woman passed by. Nothing Peggy did outside of the magical realm seemed to work. Unplugging it did nothing but provoke the blasted machine, CD’s were ejected at alarming speeds, and even the baseball bat Peggy used to bash the speakers in couldn’t deter the noisy machine. All of her magical attempts led to small fires and one unfortunate incident that caused Peggy’s skin to turn purple for two days.

If it weren’t for Miss Fry being the landlady, all of the noise complaints Peggy received surely would have gotten her kicked out of the building in no time flat. She was certain that her neighbours worked up the wrong idea about her by now.

_And can you feel the love tonight?_

_It is where we are_

_It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer_

_That we got this far_

Peggy groaned, covering her head with the pillow, trying desperately to block out the sound well enough to get at least an hour of sleep. Keeping the radio around was akin to having an obnoxious roommate that insisted they were solo career material with their out of tune shower head concerts.

And then the insistent knocking began again.

Peggy dragged herself out of bed as she tried to rub the drowsiness from her eyes.

“Hello, Angie.” Peggy really didn’t need to focus in on the visitor. The routine her radio forced her into made her all too aware that it was Angie. It only ever screamed out love songs if it was Angie.

“Peg, I don’t know how you’re doing that thing with the music, but I can take a hint.”

“Angie, it’s not me, I can assure you.”

“Love songs. Every time I walk by. Explain that.”

“I—”

_Wise men say only fools rush in_

_But I can't help falling in love with you_

Angie quirked a brow, daring Peggy to try to protest, to try and come up with an excuse. Peggy couldn’t very well tell Angie she was a witch’s apprentice and her advisor refuses to acknowledge how hopeless Peggy is at charms.

“I’d love to take you to dinner.”

Angie beamed with a grin so wide it had to have hurt her cheeks. “Great!”

_And you don't know why_

_But you're dying to try_

_You wanna kiss the girl_

That was the last straw. Peggy sharply turned around, flicking her wrist violently at the radio. The last thing she expected was a bolt of lightning to spring out of her fingertips. Wide-eyed, Peggy spun to face Angie again only to be met with a smug smile and a playful glare.

“Guess we’ll have a lot to talk about over dinner, huh English?”

**Author's Note:**

> You're not allowed to judge me for the Wicked reference.
> 
> The songs mentioned in order of appearance are as follows:
> 
> Magic by Pilot  
> Lovefool by the Cardigans  
> Whenever, Wherever by Shakira  
> Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch by the Temptations  
> Can You Feel the Love Tonight by Elton John  
> Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley  
> Kiss the Girl from Disney's The Little Mermaid


End file.
